Monday, May 17, 2010

Our New Tree House

It isn’t finished yet, but I am too excited to wait until it’s completely done to post photos. Here’s how our back yard used to look:IMGP6907

And here’s the view as of this evening (and, yes, of course we have screwed the banisters in by now!):IMGP7107

About two weeks ago, Dan spent the day digging concrete piers for the tree house. His parents came to help and supervise, and the kids helped a little too. Jackson was an essential part of shovel management.IMGP6923

The kids especially liked digging in the dirt that was pulled out of the pier holes.IMGP6922

When the concrete was poured, we got the brilliant idea to leave our marks. (Who can resist wet cement?) I collected a few items and we stuck them into the wet concrete. My pier has the least decoration because the concrete hardened a little to quickly for me. I stuck an “E” tile and a heart-shaped rock in the concrete, then dug my thumbprint into it.IMGP6936

Katie’s pier has some Missouri river seashells (I guess they’re not really seashells, huh?), plus some marbles. My favorite part is the embedded rock at the 3:00 position. It’s from my sister’s house in North Carolina.IMGP6937

Dan’s pier has some marbles, metal snaps, and a rock I found on the beach in Jamaica.IMGP6940

Jackson’s pier has a mixture of things:  seashells, marbles, metal nuts, a plastic spider ring, and a rubber horse that came loose the next day. Now, two weeks later, he is still asking to get the spider out of the concrete.IMGP6941

The last two weeks have been monsoon season here in St. Louis. There haven’t been many dry days when Dan could work on the tree house, until today. Even though it was still wet and a little misty, Dan and his friend Eric decided today would be the day. Dan’s parents came too, and the tree house was mostly finished by 4:00. Nothing can compare to Katie’s face when she got off the bus and walked into the back yard to find the tree house. I was standing in it, and she climbed up to join me and check it out. Dan climbed up too.IMGP7114

Katie was so excited to finally be in the tree house (we’ve been planning it since last summer), and she said, “Mommy, am I still awake?” I said yes, of course she was. She said, “Good. Because I don’t want to wake up and have to build this again.” She asked me if she was dreaming, so I told her to pinch herself and find out. She did, then confirmed to me that she was awake.

There are still a few boards that need to be screwed down, plus a ladder and slide to install. Katie wants to paint a sign to name the tree house, and we have plans to make some outdoor pillows that we can use to snuggle and read. My hope is that we might even spend the night in the tree house later this summer. (I have priceless childhood memories of sleeping on our back porch with Mom, Mary and Jackson in the Georgia summers.)

I owe my husband, my in-laws and our friend Eric a huge thank you for making such a cool tree house for our family!

5 comments:

Gina said...

THAT is awesome! Can we come check it out this summer? :)

Unknown said...

I love your tree house. I think it is perfect! And your collage of special things...so wonderful! I love what she said about being awake. Very, very sweet. I saw your blog title when I was visiting Angie from seven clown's circus guest blogger today and I thought I would come to say hi! I have always loved tree houses.

TinkDoll said...

WOW! I had fun just reading about the tree house! You guys are going to LOVE it. What a great idea to let each person decorate a pier!

BTW, I laughed out loud about your comment on my blog regarding my new oven and one in the oven. You said you weren't witty that night, but just catching that was pretty witty. LOL!!!

God's blessings to you and your family Ms. Elizabeth...From way down south.

Robin said...

Look at the piers and pick out the engineer. haha

It looks like a cool place to spend the summer (pun intended).

Brina said...

I LOVE THE TREE HOUSE!!!!! You have got to be the best parents a kid could ever ask for! I LOVE the stuff you put into the pillars!!!

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